Installer bootstrapping with Burn

What is Burn?

Burn is a bootstrapper to chain the installations of MSI installers. It is part of WiX toolset. One of the reasons you might need a bootstrapper is to chain your software prerequisites or dependency installations such as a particular version of .NET Framework.

Example screenshot of my setup.exe

Example of my project structure

This is how my project structure looked like in preparing to create a bootstrapper.

<root>
├── bootstrapper_res\
|   ├── banner.png
|   ├── ClassicTheme.wxl
|   └── ClassicTheme.xml
├── prereq\
|   └── NDP471-KB4033344-Web.exe
├── Bootstrapper.wxs
├── MakeBootstrapper.bat
├── myAppSetup.msi
├── ...

Folders:

bootstrapper_res - Contains graphic resource and theme files for my WiX bootstrapper UI
prereq - Contains necessary prerequisites to be bundled into my bootstrapper

WiX project files:

Bootstrapper.wxs - Main file for generating the bootstrapper (*.exe file)
MakeBootstrapper.bat - Batch script to compile Bootstrapper.wxs file
myAppSetup.msi - Example of .msi installer file for my app installation
banner.png, ClassicTheme.wxl & ClassicTheme.xml - Modified theme for customizing the bootstrapper interface (source code available on GitHub)

Example of my primary WiX project file

Below is the script that I used to create my bootstrapper to bundle the installation packages:

File name: Bootstrapper.wxs

<Wix
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"
    xmlns:bal="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/BalExtension"
    xmlns:util="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/UtilExtension">
    <Bundle Name="MiniAppKiller Bundle" 
        Version="!(bind.packageVersion.MainPackage)" 
        Manufacturer="Heiswayi Nrird" 
        UpgradeCode="56888B11-D5D0-4068-8E94-39E696DAD1D4" 
        Copyright="(C) 2018 Heiswayi Nrird" 
        IconSourceFile="images/app.ico" 
        AboutUrl="https://heiswayi.nrird.com"
        Compressed="yes">
        
        <!-- Layout setup -->
        <BootstrapperApplicationRef Id="WixStandardBootstrapperApplication.HyperlinkLicense">
            <bal:WixStandardBootstrapperApplication 
                LicenseUrl="https://heiswayi.nrird.com"
                LogoFile="bootstrapper_res/banner.png"
                ThemeFile="bootstrapper_res/ClassicTheme.xml"
                LocalizationFile="bootstrapper_res/ClassicTheme.wxl"
                LicenseFile="app\Eula-en.rtf"
                SuppressOptionsUI="yes" />
        </BootstrapperApplicationRef>

        <util:RegistrySearch Root="HKLM" 
            Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Net Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full" 
            Value="Version" 
            Variable="Net4FullVersion" />
        <util:RegistrySearch Root="HKLM" 
            Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Net Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full" 
            Value="Version" 
            Variable="Net4x64FullVersion" 
            Win64="yes" />
        
        <Chain DisableSystemRestore="yes">
            <ExePackage Id="Net471" 
                Name="Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.1 Web Installer" 
                Cache="no" 
                Compressed="yes" 
                PerMachine="yes" 
                Permanent="yes" 
                Vital="yes"
                InstallCommand="/passive /norestart"
                SourceFile="prereq\NDP471-KB4033344-Web.exe"
                DetectCondition="(Net4FullVersion = &quot;4.7.2558&quot;) AND (NOT VersionNT64 OR (Net4x64FullVersion = &quot;4.7.2558&quot;))"
                InstallCondition="(VersionNT >= v6.0 OR VersionNT64 >= v6.0) AND (NOT (Net4FullVersion = &quot;4.7.2558&quot; OR Net4x64FullVersion = &quot;4.7.2558&quot;))"/>
            <RollbackBoundary />
            <MsiPackage Id="MainPackage" 
                SourceFile="setup-1.0.msi" 
                DisplayInternalUI="yes" 
                Compressed="yes" 
                Vital="yes"/>
        </Chain>
    </Bundle>
</Wix>

For more detailed on other available element properties, you can read on WiX Bundle Element documentation here.

Creating a batch script to compile the WiX project files

These are the WiX toolset that I used in the batch script to compile the WiX project files:

candle.exe - To generate *.wixobj file
light.exe - To compile *.wixobj and generate the bootstrapper file (*.exe).

File name: MakeBootstrapper.bat

@echo off
"%WIX%bin\candle.exe" "Bootstrapper.wxs" -out "_Bootstrapper.wixobj" -ext WixNetFxExtension -ext WixBalExtension -ext WixUtilExtension -nologo
"%WIX%bin\light.exe" "_Bootstrapper.wixobj" -out "Bootstrapper.exe" -ext WixNetFxExtension -ext WixBalExtension -ext WixUtilExtension -nologo

Example screenshots of my custom bootstrapper dialogs